SK 



.THE. 



hateaude Rochambeau 



...BY- 



JOSEPH G. ROSENGARTEN. 



READ BEFORc THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 
DECLM3ER '21, 1894. 



inted from the Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, Vol. xxxiii, January 16, 1>'9: 




Class ^ Xf iS 
Book— A-^^ 



/ 




PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON, 

By Charles Willson Pea!e, 

AT THE CHATEAU DE ROGHAMBEAU. 

Presented by Washington to General Comte de Rochambeau. 



1HC F. eUT£KUHS1 t 



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353 



1894.] OOO [Rosengarten. 

IJie Chateau de Bochambeau. 

By Joseph Q. Rosengarten. 

(Read before the American Philosophical Society, December 21, IS94.) 

The home of La Fayette at La Grange has long been a point of attrac- 
tion for many Americans, full of admiration for La Faj'^ette and the part 
he played in the American Revolution. The story of his services in be- 
half of the struggling colonies, so well told by Mr. Charlemagne Tower, 
Jr., in his noteworthy contribution to our history of the Revolution, will 
undoubtedly strengthen and renew the strong affection always entertained 
in this country for La Fayette, so markedly exhibited during his lifetime, 
especially on his last visit to this country, and in the reception given 
to his descendants, who came here to join in the celebration of the centen- 
nial anniversary of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. In doing 
honor to La Fayette and to his countrymen for their help in securing 
American independence, we ought not to forget the Rochambeaus, father 
and son, the former the General-in-Chief of the French Allied Army sent 
to help the American colonies in their struggle against Great Britain, the 
son his Aid de-camp, who served with distinction, and was sent to France 
to secure that final help, fleet, men and monej^, with which the long war 
for Independence was brought to a successful termination by the closing 
and crowning victory. A recent visit to the Chateau de Rochambeau 
showed that it was full of interest for Americans, for there the present 
owner, the Marquis de Rochambeau, piously preserves the historical relics 
of the family, and prominent among them are those that marked the 
Comte de Rochambeau's leading part in the American War of Inde- 
pendence. The Chateau itself is of great interest. Situated on the banks 
of the Loire, between Blois and VendSme, it is easily accessible, and a 
view of its fine grounds, its curious caves, its lovely outlook over the 
valley of the Loire, its noble avenue and the beautiful river, is of itself a 
delight to lovers of the picturesque. 

In the Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, 1832-83, Vol. xx, 
p. 100, the late Hon. Robert C. Winthrop describes his then recent visit 
to the Chateau de Rochambeau, where he found many relics of the old 
Marquis and Count, as he then was, of Yorktown memory — the sword 
which he wore in America, his badge as an honorary member of the Cin- 
cinnati, his baton as a Marshal of France, with all his orders and decora- 
tions, and a portrait of himself, one of a large series of family portraits on 
the walls. On pedestals in the corners were two beautifully wrought 
miniature cannon, inscribed as having been presented to the widow of the old 
Marquis by Louis XVIII, to take the place of the two British cannon which 
Washington had presented to Rochambeau after the victory at Yorktown, 
which had been seized and probably recast during the French Revolu- 
tion. In his bedroom was the original MS. of his Memoirs printed in 

REPRINTED JAN. 16, 1895, FROM PROC. AMER. PHIIOS. SOC. XXXIII, 146. 



Rosengarten.] OOl . [Dec. 21, 

1809. Between the windows was a large portrait, one of Peale's original 
portraits of Washington, which had been presented by Washington liim- 
self to Rochambeau — a large square or three-quarters portrait, in military 
costume, with a cannon and other military emblems in the background — 
in perfect preservation and worthy of being included among the most 
notable of the numberless portraits of the Father of his Country. 

A recent visitor, giving an account of the Chateau as he saw it in Sep- 
tember last, in a letter printed in the Philadelphia Ledger of October 31, 
1894, speaks of the fine suits of ancestral ^rmor, worn by the Kochambeaus 
of the sixteenth century, around which are draped the American flags, 
presented by Gen. Hancock to the present owner, certainly an involun- 
tary tribute by the preux chevalier of our own army to tlie prowess of 
these knights of old. He also was among those who on behalf of the 
Government of the United States welcomed the Marquis de Rochambeau 
as the leader of the French visitors of 1881, descendants of the gallant 
soldiers who had shared in the honors bf the surrender at Yorktown. 
Thus the connection between the Rochambeau of our own Revolutionary 
AVar, and the Rochambeau of to-day, is one of the pleasant ties that keep 
alive the friendship of the two countries and make the United States and 
France sister republics. The Comte de Rochambeau left two volumes of 
Memoirs, published in Paris in 1809, edited by Leonce de Lancival, which 
tell the story of his life. Born at Vendome July 1, 1725, and dying at the 
Chateau de Rochambeau on May 1, 1807, his long life was full of inter- 
esting experiences as a soldier, and the short episode of his services as 
Commander-in-Chief of the French Army sent to help Washington, is of 
itself enough to make him a man of note for all students of American his- 
tory. He entered the French Army as Cornet in 1748, in Saint Simon's 
Regiment of Cavalry, and served with distinction in campaigns in 
Bohemia, Bavaria and on the Rhine ; he was made Colonel in 1767, as a 
reward for his brilliant services at the siege of Namur, and Brigadier for 
his action at Minorca, and Major-General for his reorganization of the 
French Army. He served under Marshals Saxe and Richelieu and 
d'Estr^e and de Broglie, who afterwards sent De Kalb to this country 
with an offer to become theGeneral-in-Chief of thearmy in the impending 
struggle, a curious episode admirably told by Dr. Stille, the President of 
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Rochambeau himself tells us that 
" after the peace," it must have been about 1769, when he was stationed 
at Strasburgas Inspector of the French Infantry in Alsace, he advised the 
Hereditary Prince of Brunswick to go to America, and there play the 
part of William of Orange in England — make himself sovereign of a 
superb empire — but the Prince had no idea that the colonies could be 
united then, or for a long time to come. It was a curious coincidence 
that he should have served under Marechal de Broglie, who seriously 
hoped to play a leading part in America, and that Rochambeau himself 
shoiild have led the French Army which did such signal service in help- 
ing America to achieve its independence, while the same Brunswick 



1894.] '^^5 [Rosengarten. 

Prince sent his soldiers, in the pay of Great Britain, to help prevent the 
colonies from establishing their independence. Ilochambeau was a 
soldier, and he had no political aims and ambitions either here or at home. 
After his brilliant career in the French wars on the Continent, he gained 
fresh honor by his successful reorganization of the French Army in its 
short experience of peace, and as Governor ot the Department of Nor- 
mandy and Brittany, and as Inspector-General, showed great capacity. 
Iq 1778 he organized the force intended for a descent on the English 
coast, and after twenty years of hard service was made Lieutenaut-General. 
He was appointed to the command of the corps intended to be sent to 
America, consisting of 4000 men, seven ships, and money and supplies 
for the struggling colonies— De Ternay was put in command of the naval 
force. Arrived at Newport, R. I., after a voyage of seventy days, he dis- 
embarked with his contingent, fortified his position, and later on met 
"Washington at Hartford, and arranged the plan of the campaign that was 
to end with such signal honor. He sent his son and Aid-de-camp back to 
France, to procure additional men, and further needed help, and through 
the younger Rochambeau's vigorous presentation of the case, France was 
led to send more ships and more men and more money. Col. de Rochambeau 
returned in May with the satisfactory news of another fleet under De Grasse 
aud six hundred more soldiers and a million and a half francs in coin. 
Colonial bills were then selling at forty per cent, discount, and much benefit, 
was derived from a further sum of six million francs, which was put at Wash- 
ington's disposition. The French War Oflice advised a movement north- 
ward to the Penobscot, Nova Scotia and Halifax, but fortunately and 
wisely left Rochambeau free to join aud act with Washington, and it was 
he who suggested the movement to and operations in Virginia, and at the 
same time asked for more ships and men and money from the French 
forces serving in the West Indies. 

The Continental currency was practically repudiated by Congress. On 
June 18, the French corps started to join Washington's Army on the 
Hudson, making in all a force of 9000 men, enough to keep Clinton in 
New York and bring Cornwallis to the coast. De Grasse brought from 
San Domingo Saint Simon's corps of 3000 men and 1,200,000 francs. 

Rochambeau divided the 100,000 Louis d'or in his army chest with 
Washington. The united army crossed the Hudson at King's Ferry, 
Washington leaving 3000 men on the left bank to cover West Point, the 
French taking position on the lower Hudson, as if for an attack on New 
York, but soon moving to the Delaware, passing it at Trenton, going 
through Philadelphia, where Congress reviewed it. 

The library of the Historical Society has a copy of a rare book, an 
abridged translation of the Memoirs of the Marshal Count de Rochambeau, 
by M. W. E. Wright, published in Paris in 1838, giving that part of the 
French original dealing with his American campaigns. The English of 
this translation and the queer mistakes in names of men and places make- 
this a very curious performance ; it does not seem to have invited any 



Rosengarten. ] dOU [Dec. 21, 

attention to Rocbarabeau's Memoirs or to tbe broader subject of the French 
forces in America, since then so fully and ably discussed by the late Mr. 
Balch in his various elaborate studies of the material he gathered in Paris. 
In that treasure house of information on the subject, Doniol's Hiitoire de 
la Farticij)ation de la France a V Etabllssement des Etats Unis d' Arnerique, 
Rochanibeau's name and deeds are frequently recorded. Chosen to com- 
mand a descent on the English coast, for his services in the Seven Years' 
"War had made him preeminent for an independent expedition, he was 
suddenly called from the Chateau de Rochambeau, where he had just gone 
to take possession on the death of his father. lie was assigned to the 
leadership of the force sent to America. He was in consultation with La 
Fayette as to its details. His instruclionsare printed in the seventh volume 
of Sparks' Washington, where the letters from Washington to Rocham- 
beau, both in this country and after his return to Europe, show the close 
ties that bound the two in lifelong friendship. La Fayette was full of 
zeal and ambition, and acting as intermediary between Washington and 
Rochambeau, was at the outset unwilling to defer to the prudence and 
experience of the elder soldier, but in the end all worked together har- 
moniously with the best results. Rochambeau treated La Fayette with 
fraternal tenderness, and even in criticising his impetuous plans, spoke of 
himself as " Je vieux pore qui parle a son cherfils." When Washington and 
Rochambeau met for the first time at Hartford, the former had Knox and 
La Fayette with him ; the latter Ternay, Chastellux, Fersen, Damas, 
Matbieu Dumas. The results of the interview were entrusted to the 
younger Rochambeau, who sailed in a ship commanded by La Perouse, 
to seek in France additional help, men, money and ships. Chastel- 
lux and Mathieu Dumas both printed their accounts of their life in 
America, the former in 1786, the latter not until 1839, but both show 
that France and indeed all Europe were closely following events 
in America. Washington naturally deferred to the older soldier, 
but Rochambeau loyally sought to do all he could to assist both 
in perfecting plans for military operations and in making them suc- 
cessful by the prompt use of all the means at hand. The fifth volume of 
Doniol gives the letters of Rochambeau to the French War Department, 
from his accepting the command until he returned to France ; it includes 
copies of his correspondence with Washington and with de La Luzerne, the 
French Minister in Philadelphia. In his letter accepting his appointment, 
he recalls his experience in the battles of Laufeldt, Crefeld and Closter- 
camp, and his reasons for a force large enough for all the contingencies of 
a war in a distant country. Undoubtedly to him is due the fact of later 
reinforcements of men and ships as well as liberal advances of money. 
Besides reproducing portraits of Rochambeau from Trumbull, Doniol 
gives in his fifth volume a portrait owned by the family, from a miniature 
in their possession. Of the son I know of no portrait in this country, 
although there is a very good one at the Chateau de Rochambeau, that 
might with advantage be reproduced to add to the growing gallery of men 
of note in our history. 



1894.] *^^* [Rosengarten. 

In Scliarf and Westcott's History of PMladelpJiia, Vol. i, p. 414, tliereis 
a record of the visit on August 30, 1781, of Washington and Rochambeau. 
They were received by the Light Horse and escorted to the city tavern and 
thence to the house of Robert Morris, on Marliet street, between Fifth and 
Sixth. At three o'clocli they proceeded to the State House, and paid 
their respects to Congress, after which they returned to Mr. Morris', 
where they dined in company with Samuel Huntingdon, the President of 
Congress, Gens. Knox, Moultrie and other distinguished officers. la the 
evening the city was illuminated. 

Mr. Westcott, in his History of Philadelphia, says that they dined with 
the President of Congress [of the State ?], Thomas McKean. In the after- 
noon the vessels in the Delaware displayed their flags and fired salutes. 
On September 3 and 4, the French Army marched through the city. 
Their route was down Front and Second street, and past the State House, 
where Thomas McKean, as President of the United States, being Chief 
Oflicer of Congress, dressed in black velvet, and sword by his side, his 
head covered, reviewed them, receiving the honors due to a sovereign. On 
his left were Washington and Rochambeau, uncovered, and on his right the 
Chevalier de la Luzerne, the French Minister. After the ceremonies. 
President McKean sent a formal letter to Count Rochambeau, expressing 
the satisfaction of himself and of Congress at the brilliant appearance and 
exact discipline of the several corps. 

The regiment Soissonais was exercised on the commons on September 
4, in the presence of Congress, the French Minister and the Generals, and 
20,000 spectators. The regiment had four field pieces, and went through 
all the evolutions of a skirmish, to the delight and satisfaction of the vast 
crowd. On July 15, 1782, Washington and Rochambeau attended the 
fete given by the French Minister at his residence in Philadelphia to 1500 
guests, in honor of the birthday of the Dauphin of France. His house 
was near Sixth and Chestnut streets, where in the evening there were fire- 
works on the large lot on Chestnut street opposite the Minister's residence. 
Mr. Gerard was elected a member of the Philosophical Society in 1779, 
following other illustrious Frenchmen on its rolls, Condorcet, Daubenton, 
Barbeu Dubourg, Le Roux, Reynall, Lavoisier, Rozier, and in turn fol- 
lowed by Luzerne, Marbois, La Fayette, Chastellux, Vergennes, Guichen, 
Rochefoucauld, Cabauis, Brissot de Warville, Du Pont de Nemours, and 
all of these have made their mark on both sides the ocean. Thus the 
Philosophical Society began its admirable method of recognition of those 
who have rendered great public service both in the old world and in the 
new. 

Washington and La Fayette reached Williamsburg September 14, and 
found there La Fayette strongly posted. Barras brought the siege guns 
by water, and then took Viomesnil and his troops from Annapolis to 
Jamestown, where the whole army was united by September 36. On the 
28th the siege of Yorktown was begun, de Grasse landing 600 men from 
his fleet to assist the land operations. The American Army was on the 



Rosecgarten.] ODO ^Pg^. 21, 

right, the French on tlie centre and left. On October 19, Cornwallis 
surrendered with 8000 men, 214 guns and 22 flags. Ou the 27th an Eng- 
lish fleet of 27 sail came to Cape Henry, but it was too late. The French 
took possession of the British quarters at Yorktown, Gloucester, Hampton 
and Williamsburg. Later they rejoined Washington at King's Ferry on the 
Hudson. Returning to France, Rochambeau was received with honor by 
the King, and, with other French officers who had served with him, was 
meted out decorations and promotions. It was on his return from York- 
town that here in Philadelphia, as he tells us in his Memoirs, of all 
the honors paid him, none touched him more than an address presented 
to him by a deputation of Quakers, old men in costumes that he charac- 
terizes as quaint from their simplicity, who thanked him, not for his mili- 
tary success, of which they told him they had no admiration, but because 
of his being the friend of mankind, and for the perfect order and discipline 
of his soldiers, and he records with satisfaction the fact that in the three 
campaigns he had made in America, there was not a single instance of any 
quarrel between soldiers of the French Army and those of the American 
Army, a record honorable alike to the soldiers of both nationalities, officers 
and enlisted men, too. It is eminently characteristic of the man that in 
this hour of glory he interceded on behalf of De Grasse and secured for 
him a return to the King's favor. 

Rochambeau in his Memoirs gives a glowing account of the resources of 
the country, and says he thought the United States could some day have 
a population of thirty millions or more. He made a short visit to England 
and was received most cordially, meeting many of Cornwallis' officers on 
a very friendly footing. At the outbreak of the French Revolution he 
had both civil and military duties forced on him, and was given the com- 
mand of the Army of the Norlh. He was the last Marshal of France ap- 
pointed by Louis the XVI, and Napoleon in confirming this distinction 
put him first on the list of his Marshals. Forced by ill health to give up 
his command, he retired to his Chateau, was arrested and sent to prison 
by Robespierre, and after nine months' confinement, barely escaping 
the guillotine, w^as released without trial, and indeed without formal 
charges of any kind. His son was sent to the West Indies, where he was 
as successful as possible under the most disadvantageous conditions, but 
finally was made a prisoner of war by the English. Paroled by them, ^ e paid 
a visit to Washington, and was received by him with every honor. After 
eighteen months he was exchanged, and that for Gen. O'Hara, one of the 
English officers captured at Yorktown. He again returned to France, and 
was appointed Governor-General of San Dommgo. The father congratu- 
lated Berthier, who had served under him in America, on his appointment 
as Napoleon's Chief of Staff, and was presented to Napoleon, who wanted 
to make him a senator, an honor which he declined on the score of age 
and bad health, but he was made Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor. 
The sou was sent back to France as a prisoner by his own rebellious 
subordinates, and the father went to Paris to defend him against charges 



1891.] do J [Rosen garten. 

made by his enemies, but the son was again a prisoner in England, in 
spite of the father's appeal to Cornwallis to remember his release on 
parole at Yorktown. The younger Rochambeau finally returned to 
France, was made General of Division, and lost his life at the battle of 
Leipsic, in 1813. The father had died in 1807, and a grandson, a young 
cavalry officer of great promise, praised by Davoust and promoted to a 
staff position, lost his leg in the same engagement, and was thus com- 
pelled to return to civil life. He lived and died at Rochambeau, and the 
stately Chateau is rich in relics of these three generations of gallant 
soldiers and of many ancestors of distinction in both civil and military 
life. The present Marquis de Rochambeau, himself no mean scholar in 
history and archeology, has printed an interesting little volume of sketches 
written by the j'ounger General de Rochambeau during the last years of the 
eighteenth century, and when he was a prisoner of war in England be- 
tween 1803 and 1811 ; they are drawn from his personal knowledge of the 
men and events hastily described — Danton, Robespierre, Barrere, Carnot, 
Brissot, Montesquieu, Custines, Biron, Pichegru, among them not a few 
who had served with the French Army in the American War of Inde- 
pendence, and some of whom achieved great distinction under Napoleon. 
It is curious to find that Gen. de Rochambeau suggests that the Duke of 
Kent be sent to command in Nova Scotia, in the hope that the dissatisfied 
party in the United States might find in him a possible candidate for 
President, making the office hereditary. As the elder Rochambeau had 
suggested to a Brunswick Prince the possibility of founding an empire in 
America, so the younger Rochambeau believed that the English Govern- 
ment had an idea that Americans still cherished a secret affection for the 
house of Hanover. 

The Marquis de Rochambeau has printed, too, several valuable archeo- 
logical works and an account of the Chateau de Rochambeau. He calls 
attention to the curious rock grottoes on the hillsides around it, the work 
of more than twenty centuries back, for he traces them to the Celts, and 
has found evidences of their handiwork, ancient dwelling places of the 
very earliest dwellers in the region, and their burial places, too, for skele- 
tons of great antiquity, and other evidences of Druidical worship of the 
third century, have been found there. Tlie estates were in the family 
from the eleventh to the twelfth century, and the deeds and other muni- 
ments of title have been preserved from the fifteenth century, beginning 
in 1486, although members of the familj" are known to have taken part in 
the Crusaded, one of them under St. Louis of France falling in battle in 
Egypt in 1251, while another in return for his services in a campaign in 
Italy was granted as motto for his shield the device : " Vivre en preux y 
mourir. ' ' 

From 1516 the Chateau and estate of Rochambeau gave the name borne 
by the family, and among them some were distinguished in the wars of 
the League, others in the navy, one under Jean Bart was made Commodore 
in 1741, and another Governor of Vendome was succeeded in that office 



Kosengarten.] duU [Dec. 21, 

by his son, who commanded the French forces in the American War of 
Independence, and later on became Marshal of France. The Chateau 
itself dates from the twelfth or thirteenth century. It was originally sur- 
rounded by walls and flanked with towers. It was rebuilt by Marshal de 
Rochambeau in the style of his time, and all that recalled the feudal castle 
disappeared to make room for the architecture of the period. The towers 
were demolished, but so solid were the foundations that even now when 
the water of the Loire is clear the old massive stones on which they 
rested can be seen. Now the Chateau is a large main central building 
with two wings. These are comparatively modern, but the main body is of 
very old construction, with massive walls, secret passages and a hidden 
entrance to what were once the dungeon keep and underground prisons. 
In face of the main entrance a graceful modern chapel has been con 
structed, hollowed out of the soft rock. On one side a great series of stables 
and other bouses, on the other the long line of very ancient caves, still 
used for farm purposes, in which the archeological zeal and intelligence 
of the present owner have unearthed many curious relics of its successive 
occupants, from those of the stone age, through Gallic and Roman days 
down to historic periods quite within our own memory. Indeed so vast 
are these artificial caves, that in one of the largest, a whole troop of 
cavalry were quartered during the recent French military manoeuvres at 
Chateaudun, horses and men numbering nearly a hundred each, being 
easily accommodated in these roomy, high, airy, dry, well-lighted and 
well-ventilated natural dwellings. Where once the crenelated walls of 
the Chateau commanded the Loire, there are now broad terraces 
and flights of steps and grassy banks leading to the edge of the 
river ; on either side of the Chateau fine gardens, and beyond the river 
broad meadows planted with fine trees in the style of an English park, so 
much affiected in France in the last century, while a splendid avenue of a 
mile or two leads from the house between the river on one side and the 
series of rock caves on the other, to the high road leading to Vendome, 
all in admirable preservation, and in striking contrast to the flat plain 
that surrounds the famous Chateau de Chambord, and the typical straight 
lines of small trees that are so frequent throughout Touraine, depriving 
even its historical chateaux of the beauty of the simple Chateau de Rocham- 
beau. The present Marquis de Rochambeau, in his interesting monograph 
on the Chateau and its vicinity, gives a series of early charters, from the 
seventh to the thirteenth century, for churches and properties now in- 
cluded in its grounds, and the gift of the ground itself under the name of 
Rochambeau in 1486, the will of the first owner of the present family in 
1598, the deed of the establishment of its chapel in 1633, and other inter- 
eating papers drawn from the family archives and from local and other 
public depositories of ancient records. These monographs, that of the 
younger General de Rochambeau, and that of the present owner of the 
Chateau, are in the library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
which already has on its shelves the Memoirs of the Count de Rochambeau, 



1894.] obi [Rosengarten. 

the Commander of the French Allied Troops in the War of American In- 
dependence, and the archeological writings of the present owner are in the 
library of the American Philosophical Society. I am very sure that the 
present owners of the Chateau will be glad to know that the name of 
Rochambeau is still borne in honor and aflfection in this country. The 
official papers of Rochambeau as Commander of the French Army in this 
country have very properly been obtained by the Government of the 
United States, and are now safely deposited in Washington, where no 
doubt they will be made accessible to students of American history. 
His private papers are still preserved in the family Chateau, where he lived 
and died, and it would be very interesting if his correspondence with those 
he left there, during his service in this countrj^ could be made public, for 
we should have from a man of large experience his judgment and opinions 
of the American patriots and statesmen and soldiers with whom he was in 
daily communication, and we should know how this old French noble- 
man and soldier was impressed by the country and the people. His 
printed Memoirs are very favorable in every thing he says of the country 
and of its people, but they deal in generalities after the fashion of theday. 
No doubt they give rather his general impressions as he transmitted them 
by word of mouth to a literary man, who really edited them to suit his 
own views of how biography ought to be written, than with any fidelity 
to the plain speech of the old soldier, whose experiences in a long life 
must have been so wide and so varied. No doubt, too, after the rough 
usage of the French Revolution, with actual imprisonment and the threat 
of the guillotine, he looked back on his stay in America, at the head of a 
well-disciplined and well-equipped force of old soldiers, surrounded by 
officers who represented the flower of the French aristocracy in its best 
estate, as a period of great expectatiDus, more than realized by the pros- 
perity of the infixnt Republic, in great contrast to the violent changes in 
France, the sad days of the declining monarchy, its violent overthrow, 
the stormy days of the French Revolution, its excesses, and the strong 
measures by which Napoleon reestablished the heavy hand of military 
power in France and over Europe, and the brilliant years of his empire 
after its first proclamation. When the elder Rochambeau died,. Napoleon 
was at the very zenith of his power, and when the younger Rochambeau 
fell at Leipsic, Napoleon's star was still in the ascendant. It would be 
most gratifying to learn whether their private correspondence and family 
and other papers are still preserved, and to have them printed, if not in 
full, at least at sufficient length to give to the growing army of American 
historical students a better knowledge of the Rochambeaus as they lived 
and thought, and of their opinions of the men of the new country to 
whose future greatness they had contributed so largely. That they came 
of old historic and military stock, tracing its home back to Celtic days, 
and their family to ancestral Crusaders, made them all the more helpful 
for the Republic of the New World. 



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